Revenue : Standing Timber

[Jackdaw]

Having been a woodland owner for a few years, I am looking into selling some standing timber for the first time.
As well as asking for any pre extraction decision advice, I am also seeking thoughts on what revenue to expect.
I have contacted a local guy who kindly popped round the site and gave me a rough quote for 100 oak trees that he would happily purchase as standing timber.
His quote was around £100 per tree. The oaks are all around 50-120 years old.
Has anyone sold any standing timber in the last couple of years, and if so does this quote sound reasonable ?.
As I say I don't really have an awful lot of selling experience to draw on, so any local information would be most welcome.
My Woodland is located close to Tenterden in Kent.
Thanks, Jackdaw

[tracy]

Hi Jackdaw

I can't advise you on prices, but things to think about:

When is he felling?
When and how will he extract? Extraction can make an enormous mess, especially in this weather. V important to think about and plan if you have shared tracks
Who is cutting up the brash and disposing of it and how?
Fires? How many, where and how big.
his chainsaw tickets and insurance details?

Have you had them recommended to you?
Will they leave the site very nice and tidy?
what kind of come back do you have if they don't?

Just a few things to think through. I am sure others will have more. The price sounds good to me, but as I say, I don't really know!
tracy

[RichardKing]

A few additional points.
1). Always get several quotes for anything And make sure its in writing!
2). How & when will you get paid?
3). Ask to see other work they have done, talk to the owners.
4). You dont have to rush into anything, the leaves havent even fallen yet.

[Sparrowhatchforestry]

Jackdaw,

Firstly when thinking about prices it all depends on the volume of timber inside the tree, how high the first union is, ease of extraction ect. Good quality English Oak (Not turkey as there is alot of that around your way!!) roadside usually fetches £3.00- £4.50 per cubic foot and currently im buying firewood grade stuff for £10-12 per cubic meter. its hard to comment about price untill i have seen the trees and site in question.

if you would like another opinion/quote the feel free to contact me. whatever way you go make sure you have agreed the prices in writing, drawn up a contract and seen any neccesary copies of insurance etc. Im sure your aware but you WILL also need a felling liscence

Kind Regards
David Abbott
Sparrowhatch Forestry
01342 477 177
07896 036 437
[email protected]

[Alex]

The price of oak is at a high at the moment.

I'm no expert, but from word of mouth from a few people using it as building materials, it is worth a lot of money in the right hands.

The intial quote of £100 per a tree, sounds very low to me, but like someone else correctly pointed out a lot depends on the nature and obviously size of the tree's.

Old Clay, by the sounds of it you have a fantastic oak tree, indeed it is very rare in my parts (North Wales) to find one with those diameters you described.

I only wish my land had this oak tree in it, (it's around 300 metres away from our boundary)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2016912.stm

[Alex]

We feel privileged to be custodians of 'Rex', he's 7 feet across at chest height, around 100 feet high, and maybe 270 years old. Lisa is useful here to give a sense of scale;

cc2.jpg

I hope you don't name all 150 !

[Toby Allen]

They look like nice trees. Don't be shy of getting them to market, it would be a waste not to.

One problem you may face is that trees lose value if they get oversize, as it's a specialised market.

Felling and extracting them becomes a larger operation, with bigger kit. The mills need to be set up for big trees, it is also a bigger risk buying a large tree. More likely to have hidden defects.

[Terry]

Lisa's usefulness is slightly undermined by the fact we dont know if she is 6'5" or 4'7" or somewhere in between

I have caused confusion in the past by putting my boot in the picture to give an idea of scale. After various comments about the object (a leaf) not being particularly large I stated that the boot was size 14 which prompted a re-assessment of scale

[Jackdaw]

Hi All.

With regard to the best size for saleable trees, what would you suggest is the idea size to sell.
As mentioned, I have also heard that a tree can become too large and will tend to hollow out if over a certain size.

[Terry]

I believe it comes down to many factors including where it is grown and in what conditions, but I believe commercial oak is harvested at about 80 years.
Older oak develops shakes and other defects which reduce usable timber.
I am no expert on the subject, just what I learned when trying to source local oak for door and window frames.